A BUSINESS that charged £98 just to check a married couple's passport renewal details and post off their application has been branded "confusing and to be used with caution".

Users of the non-official site are charged £48 each for the service [POSED BY MODEL/GETTY]

Steve and Judy Harper were furious when they later discovered passportdirect.org.uk was not an authorised government website able to issue documents but an expensive private check-and-send service costing £48 per person.

The Post Office will do the same process, making sure someone's application details are correct, for a mere £8.75.

Following their £98 fee, the Harpers still had to pay a further £72.50 each to get their renewals from HM Passport Office.

For several years now regulators have been alerting consumers to sites that charge to process government applications.

Reviewing and forwarding services are not illegal but they do have to make clear they are not affiliated to the government and, where appropriate, if the service could be obtained directly at little or no cost elsewhere.

The line though between what is made clear and what isn't can be very fine on many of these check-and-send sites.

The Harpers agree they should have been more on guard when they searched online last August. Yet according to the couple the way that passportdirect.org.uk presents its services is unbalanced and baffling.

The fact that their home page states "Official IPS Website" is what convinced Steve the website was fine to use.

"I set out thinking our renewal online would be similar to how I renew my car tax these days.

"I searched for 'passport renewal' and this site came up with a .org.uk which usually means a public organisation. When I saw the word 'official' so prominently displayed I thought I must be in the right place and that I was on a government site."

The Post Office offer the same passport application checking service for £8.75 [GETTY]

I set out thinking our renewal online would be similar to how I renew my car tax these days

Steve Harper

However, underneath in far smaller, lighter print the site contradicts what appears to be its "official" declaration by saying it is not affiliated to the IPS (Identity and Passport Service) or any government body.

One giveaway that this is not a government-sanctioned site is all government sites carry .gov.uk.

Unfortunately the confusion and profiteering, deliberate or otherwise, doesn't end there.

While the site offers a free phone number for applications, anyone wanting to inquire further, as many do when they can't understand why they haven't got their passports, finds they have only one choice and that's to call another fiendishly expensive premium rate number.

"I was left hanging on for several minutes. It must have cost me at least another tenner," said Steve.

Hundreds of complaints from the public about costly connection tactics employed by other businesses prompted a crackdown from last month by premium rate regulator PhonepayPlus.

"The new regime forces companies to be very clear that the information they are providing can be found cheaper elsewhere and they are not related to the organisation they are connecting the consumer to," says a spokesman. "These services particularly offer connection to, or information about, public services, customer services lines or technical helplines.

"PhonepayPlus has conducted research which demonstrates that the way these services are promoted through search engines is unclear, meaning many consumers are misled into using them without realising it or knowing the cost."

Crusader asked Passport Direct, which is part of Elucidate Contractor Services, based in Edgware, Middlesex, several times to refund the Harpers' money and explain how it could justify both its website and its premium rate number.

It has not responded. However it has now voluntarily suspended its premium rate number pending an investigation by the regulator.

Do you have a consumer problem or a tale of service that deserves applause? The Crusader is here to help. We can't promise a reply but please write in with your full name and daytime phone number to: The Crusader, Daily Express, 10 Lower Thames Street, London EC3R 6EN or email us at crusader@express.co.uk. Don't send original documents you may need later.